The DT01ACA is the first consumer-oriented 3.5-inch hard drive lineup from Toshiba. We will be reviewing the 1 TB model in this article, codenamed DT01ACA100. The blue printed circuit board (PCB) on the bottom houses the drive controller and the 32 MB of cache. The SATA III connector has a theoretical bandwidth of up to 6 Gbps, around 750 MB/s. In real life, the speed is significantly reduced and limited to about 550 MB/s. Read and write speed may vary depending on the host device, read and write conditions, and file size. Compared to the Seagate Constellation ES.2 and the HGST Ultrastar 3k/4k models both the DT01ABA100 and the DT01ACA100 feel a lot lighter (and less rugged) and they are since for example the Constellation ES.2 weighs 680g while both the DT01ABA100 and the DT01ACA100 weigh just 407g each. Both drives use the same SATA III connection and also have two pins at the rear (most likely for factory performed firmware updates).

In CrystalDiskMark, the DT01ACA100 reached sequential read/write speeds at 203 MB/s and 202 MB/s respectively, which were slightly lower than the advertised 226 MB/s. Random 4K performance was bad at around 1.2 MB/s to 1.4 MB/s, but was normal for a mechanical hard drive. Standard SATA-based SSDs often sits at under 300 MB/s. Definition of capacity: Toshiba defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 2 30= 1,073,741,824 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, such as Microsoft Operating System and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary. Turning both drives upside down we see that each uses a different colored PCB (DT01ACA100 Light Blue/DT01ABA100 Dark Blue) and that as expected all of the components are placed on the interior for increased protection. The DT01ACA lineup has four different capacities, from 500GB up to 3TB. All models utilize a SATA 3 (6 Gbps) interface and the rotational speed is at 7200 RPM. Only 3.5-inch form factor is available.

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This 7200RPM desktop hard drive is specifically designed for maximum performance. It delivers exceptional speed and responsiveness which make it ideal for enterprise-level applications, intensive data processing, and tasks that demand the highest level of performance and reliability. Interface: A kibibyte (KiB) means 2 10, or 1,024 bytes, a mebibyte (MiB) means 2 20, or 1,048,576 bytes, and a gibibyte (GiB) means 2 30, or 1,073,741,824 bytes. Sequential read/write speeds dropped down to 189 MB/s and 168 MB/s in AS SSD Benchmark. Random 4K operations decreased to only 0.28 MB/s to 1.08 MB/s. terabytes capacity is perfect for archiving large-scale projects and maintaining data integrity. Supports high-definition multimedia content without compromising performance. From Factor:

The 3.5-inch form factor ensures easy integration into desktop setups, delivering reliable performance, ample storage space, and seamless compatibility. They are built to withstand a lot of wear and tear, making them a good choice for long-term storage. RPM: The Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB HDD did reasonably well by mechanical hard drives’ standards. It averaged around 200 MB/s in sequential read/write speeds, but decreased drastically in random 4K operations as expected. To test the performance of the solid-state drive, we use three well-established storage benchmarking software. They are CrystalDiskMark, ATTO Disk Benchmark, as well as AS SSD Benchmark. IOPS number represents how well a drive handles random input and output operations. The highest number sat at 277 IOPS, while the the DT01ACA100 HDD scored 48 in the benchmark.We also recorded the time to transfer three files of 10 GB, 500 MB and 250 MB from a RAM disk to the SSD, which is used to simulate a real-world situation. The DT01ACA100 HDD’s performance leveled off when the test file sizes increased from 8 KB, which achieved around 200 MB/s in both read and write. I've been reading the forum for a long time but so far I haven't registered. But now I have a similar case of the thread op.

Compared to the Seagate BarraCuda 1TB HDD ( its review here), the Toshiba DT01ACA100 had similar sequential performance with slightly better write speed in CrystalDiskMark. Though, the results were different in AS SSD Benchmark. The BarraCuda HDD had a higher sequential write speed than the DT01ACA100. All hard drives did bad in random 4K read/write operations, which is as expected. Conclusion Conclusion: I think the bios of the damaged PCB must be corrupt. It's weird because looking at Hex format you have data. Toshiba Europe Storage Products Division (SPD) has remained at the forefront of the storage industry for over 40 years and is the world's only storage supplier that owns design, development, manufacturing, sales and other infrastructure functions spanning the enterprise, mobile and retail environments for both HDD and SSD products. Customers are original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), system integrators and distributors within the EMEA region. As a leading provider of integrated storage solutions and as the principal inventor of NAND flash storage, Toshiba sets many of today’s industry standards for storage technology. Throughout its history, Toshiba SPD has revolutionized the design and development of storage devices and its drives can be found inside the world's leading GPS navigation systems, consumer electronics, computers and enterprise solutions. In addition, Toshiba Storage Products Division offers an extensive range of advanced technology drives such as high durability 24/7, extended temperature and SSDs for the consumer, industrial, enterprise and automotive sector. The next step was to read the U12 chip from the bad PCB with an external programmer. I did several readings and they are all edentic, so he got it right. The next thing I did was put the donor PCB chip in and burn the original bad PCB bios to it. I did erase chip, write and verification. Everything OK.Introducing the reliable and high-performance Toshiba DT01ACA100 desktop hard drive. With an impressive 1TB capacity, it offers ample space to store your valuable data, media files, and documents. Experience fast data access and transfer speeds with its 7200RPM rotation per minute that ensures swift and efficient operations. The SATA interface guarantees seamless connectivity and compatibility with a wide range of devices. Its compact 3.5-inch design allows for easy installation in any desktop setup. Trust in its reliability, durability, and superior performance to meet all your storage needs. Capacity: It took 60.05 seconds for a total of three files, sized around 15 GB, to transfer from a RAM disk. The write speed stabilized at around 194 MB/s, after the cache buffer was full. Comparison